Grocer's animal welfare initiative rolling out to Canadian stores

Consumers concerned about the past life of their meats are about to get clarity from one chain of organic grocery stores.
Whole Foods Market Inc., a U.S.-based retailer that operates the country's largest chain of natural and organic food supermarkets, is extending an innovative animal welfare labelling program to its six Canadian stores this week. Rolled out earlier this year across the United States, the labels on all chicken, beef and pork sold at Whole Foods tell consumers exactly how the animals were reared.  

Motivating the retailer is the fact that food savvy consumers are increasingly interested in on-farm conditions, propelled by closer relationships with farmers established through booming local food movements and the popularity of movies such as Food Inc., a 2008 documentary examination of corporate farming in the United States that garnered mass audiences. More